Ryan Reaves: healthy for weeks, trapped on the injured list

There are many stories of players who aren’t as injured as they appear. The result? The guys are on the injured list and… waiting their turn.

As there are often grey areas, we can’t always fully blame the teams. That said, we can all have our doubts, we agree. #RobidasIsland

Just this year, the Toronto Maple Leafs have three players on the long-term injured list: John Klingberg, Matt Murray and Jake Muzzin. Do they all deserve to be there? Are they as injured as we think?

How much of this is just to save money?

It may sound like a conspiracy theory, but in the NHL, phantom injuries do exist. Ask Jordin Tootoo to tell you his story, just for fun.

In some cases, the goal is to save money via LTIR. But in others, it’s more a question of keeping a guy on the regular injured list, not for salary cap reasons, but for the sake of a roster spot.

And in light of the Leafs’ Ryan Reaves’ comments, that’s what’s happening to him right now.

There’s no grey area here: this is coming from the horse’s mouth. It’s Reaves himself who says he’s been healthy for weeks, but not activated in his team’s 23-man roster.

There’d be no point in him saying that if it weren’t true. As an injured player, he’s not obliged to talk… but he probably wants the NHL to stick its nose in.

Because he’s been performing poorly since signing his three-year contract, it’s clear that the Maple Leafs are trying to bend the rules by hiding the big man on the regular injured list.

Note that the regular injured list does not allow his salary to be used elsewhere in the line-up. Nor can he return until the medical staff deems him fit to do so.

So he’s caught without too many resources. That’s probably why he spoke out, since popular judgment is sometimes the best way to get things done, in a case like this.

Reaves, whose contract buyout is to be considered this summer, will have to hope to return to action soon. But if he returns for the first time since December 14, he’ll have to perform.

In bursts

– The Habs players are there for the fans.

– With good reason.

– We can’t wait to see him go pro.

– What will the Habs do?